Runner from Basin crossed Boston finish line just before blasts

Jana Quilter, wearing a hat and tank top, approaches the finish line of the Boston Marathon. She says she was 150 feet away from the blasts on Monday. Courtesy of Jake Quilter

Jana Quilter, a Trailside resident who ran in her first Boston Marathon on Monday, was still at the finish line when the blasts occurred.

It was just five minutes after she completed the race, and she had run by the location of the explosions minutes beforehand. Quilter was perhaps 150 feet away from the blasts.

At first she thought that the blasts came from a cannon in celebration of the race. Then she wondered whether there might have been a problem in Boston’s subway. She realized, though, that the blasts came from bombs.

"It was so loud and there was a huge puff of smoke," Quilter said.

Quilter, who finished the marathon in four hours, four minutes, said she ducked into a hotel close to the finish line. The hotel was in lockdown. If she left, she could not get back inside. Quilter reached her husband with a text message.

The family — Quilter, her husband and four sons — later reunited a half a mile away from the hotel where she was. The car was parked in a garage at the Prudential Center, a skyscraper in Boston, but the family was unable to get the car. They took a taxi to their hotel outside of Boston three hours later.

Quilter described a scene that was not frantic and said the emergency responders were brave.

"Nobody was running. Nobody was pushing, but people were nervous," she said.

She said the day left the family in a state of shock and that being there made her appreciate what she has in her life. Quilter, who is 49 years old, has lived in the Park City area for 21 years. She returned home on Wednesday.

Her son, Jake Quilter, took upward of 30 photos in quick succession as she passed close to the finish line. She said the photos have been uploaded to a FBI website to assist in the investigation.

Quilter was one of eight Boston Marathon runners listed as being from Park City.